Ben Balderson, PhD

“I'm dedicated to meeting the health care needs of people who have complex, chronic conditions and to help them develop lifelong skills for managing their health.”

Ben Balderson, PhD

Senior Collaborative Scientist, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute
Psychologist, Washington Permanente Medical Group

Benjamin.H.Balderson@kp.org
206-287-2803

Curriculum vitae (CV)

Biography

Ben Balderson, PhD, is a clinical psychologist with specialties in adult behavior medicine and health psychology. He has expertise in behavioral and cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, and treatment adherence for chronic diseases—especially chronic pain, insomnia, and HIV/PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, which is using medication to prevent HIV infection in individuals with high risk.

Dr. Balderson is interested in improving self-management for chronic health conditions and understanding how these conditions intersect with psychological health. His research has largely focused on developing and testing interventions to improve self-management for chronic pain, with a strong interest in marginalized or difficult-to-reach populations. He is also interested in telehealth and the use of technology—such as the internet and smartphones—to facilitate care.

A practicing psychologist at Kaiser Permanente Washington, Dr. Balderson provides care for adult patients and specializes in behavioral medicine, for example for chronic pain, insomnia, HIV, and gender care. He also specializes in treatment of anxiety disorders, for example, generalized anxiety disorder; PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder; phobias; and OCD, or obsessive-compulsive disorder. He has a strong interest in translation work, bringing empirically supported treatments to the frontlines of clinical care. Dr. Balderson also has extensive experience in provider training—particularly in ways clinicians can interact with patients to increase behavior change.

Dr. Balderson serves as a peer reviewer for several journals in the areas of pain and HIV and is an avid participant in Kaiser Permanente Washington committees and initiatives related to improving behavioral health care.

Research interests and experience

Behavior Change

Self-management support; treatment adherence; health behavior change; motivational interviewing; problem-solving therapy; cognitive behavioral therapy
Chronic Illness Management

Chronic pain; insomnia; treatment adherence; HIV management and PrEP; self-management support
Complementary & Integrative Health

Chronic pain
Dementia Prevention

Health Psychology

Recent publications

Adams LM, Balderson BH, Brown K, Bush SE, Packett BJ Who Starts the Conversation and Who Receives Preexposure Prophylaxis (PrEP)?: A Brief Online Survey of Medical Providers' PrEP Practices 2018 Oct;45(5):723-729. doi: 10.1177/1090198117752789. Epub 2018-01-20. PubMed

Balderson BH, Pruitt SD, Von Korff M. Strengthening self-management of low back pain in primary care: an evolving paradigm. In: Turk DC, Gatchel RJ, editors. Psychological Approaches to Pain Management: A Practitioner’s Handbook, 3rd Edition. New York: Guilford Press; 2018. p 319-339. PubMed

Cherkin D, Balderson B, Wellman R, Hsu C, Sherman KJ, Evers SC, Hawkes R, Cook A, Levine MD, Piekara D, Rock P, Estlin KT, Brewer G, Jensen M, LaPorte AM, Yeoman J, Sowden G, Hill JC, Foster NE Effect of Low Back Pain Risk-Stratification Strategy on Patient Outcomes and Care Processes: the MATCH Randomized Trial in Primary Care 2018 Aug;33(8):1324-1336. doi: 10.1007/s11606-018-4468-9. Epub 2018-05-22. PubMed

Adams LM, Balderson B, Packett BJ Meeting the Challenge: Hepatitis C Virus and HIV Care Experiences Among HIV Specialty Providers 2018 Aug;32(8):314-320. doi: 10.1089/apc.2018.0006. PubMed

Herman PM, Anderson ML, Sherman KJ, Balderson BH, Turner JA, Cherkin DC Cost-effectiveness of Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction Versus Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or Usual Care Among Adults With Chronic Low Back Pain 2017 Oct 15;42(20):1511-1520. doi: 10.1097/BRS.0000000000002344. PubMed

Cherkin DC, Anderson ML, Sherman KJ, Balderson BH, Cook AJ, Hansen KE, Turner JA Two-Year Follow-up of a Randomized Clinical Trial of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction vs Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or Usual Care for Chronic Low Back Pain 2017 Feb 14;317(6):642-644. doi: 10.1001/jama.2016.17814. PubMed

Evers S, Hsu C, Sherman KJ, Balderson B, Hawkes R, Brewer G, La Porte AM, Yeoman J, Cherkin D Patient Perspectives on Communication with Primary Care Physicians about Chronic Low Back Pain 2017 Jan;21. doi: 10.7812/TPP/16-177. PubMed

Turner JA, Anderson ML, Balderson BH, Cook AJ, Sherman KJ, Cherkin DC. Mindfulness-based stress reduction and cognitive-behavioral therapy for chronic low back pain: similar effects on mindfulness, catastrophizing, self-efficacy, and acceptance in a randomized controlled trial. Pain. 2016 Nov;157(11):2434-2444.doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000000635. PubMed

Adams LM, Balderson BH. HIV providers' likelihood to prescribe pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention differs by patient type: a short report. AIDS Care. 2016 Sep;28(9):1154-8. doi: 10.1080/09540121.2016.1153595. Epub 2016 Feb 26. PubMed

McCoy K, Waldrop-Valverde D, Balderson BH, Mahoney C, Catz S. Correlates of antiretroviral therapy adherence among HIV-infected older adults. J Int Assoc Provid AIDS Care. 2016;15(3):248-55. doi: 10.1177/2325957416642019. Epub 2016 Apr 12. PubMed